


Between Land and Sea

by thatfangirl



Category: Disney RPF
Genre: Community: femslash10, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-02
Updated: 2010-09-02
Packaged: 2017-10-12 02:20:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/119710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatfangirl/pseuds/thatfangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things that begin and end during the filming of <i>Princess Protection Program</i> in Puerto Rico.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between Land and Sea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amathela](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amathela/gifts).



> Although these characters are based on actual personas, this story is entirely fictional.

Even before the plane touches down in San Juan, Selena knows that the next six weeks will be the best of their lives.

She must have absorbed some of Alex Russo's attitude because although Disney made them reservations at separate hotels, she rolls her eyes and deposits her suitcase on Demi's bed. The concern is not unwarranted: the first few nights, they whisper until they pass out. But even at fifteen, they're professionals, and they quickly settle into a bedtime routine. At ten o'clock, they wind down the conversation. Demi turns off the lamp, murmurs goodnight, and kisses Selena's forehead or, once, her cheek. "Goodnight," Selena repeats, rests her temple against Demi's shoulder, and lets the ocean lull her to sleep.

They picnic on the beach as often as they can. Sometimes Selena takes her paints and Demi, her guitar. Demi's fear of elevators plus the location of the hotel's stairs has them on a first-name basis with the kitchen staff, so they always take a picnic basket full of their favorite foods.

The sky is pinking with another stunning sunset when shooting ends for the day. Rather than go up to their room, they swing by the kitchen. A picnic basket and a blanket are waiting for them.

They walk until the hotel disappears behind the dunes. Selena watches with restrained amusement as Demi tries and fails to spread out the blanket. Taking pity on her, she weights one corner with the basket and the other with her sandals; Demi secures her side by lying on it.

"I'm never eating again," Demi announces when they finish dinner. She stretches out parallel to the surf, so Selena uses her as a pillow while she watches the sun sink into the water.

Movement returns Selena to consciousness. The moon has risen and so has her pillow. "Hey," Demi whispers.

"Hey," Selena whispers back. She holds out her hand and Demi pulls her to her feet. "Look at all the stars."

"Look at the water." The moon's reflection shimmers on the waves like a silver road to the horizon. "It's a marvelous night for a moondance," Demi sings softly, lifting their still-clasped hands. Obligingly, Selena rests her other hand on Demi's shoulder; Demi claims the small of Selena's back, and their feet sweep across the wet sand in something like a waltz. They dance together all the time, only now the mockery is more of a mimicry and Selena is feeling more gawky than goofy.

Their lips brush as fast and light as a breeze. It takes Selena a moment to process what's happened, what Demi has done, but then she kisses back. Kiss becomes kissing, and somehow Selena is standing on a tropical beach, making out with her best friend beneath a thousand perfect stars.

Demi pulls back. Her lips are glistening in the moonlight, and Selena's brain stutters because she _did_ that. "Are you cold?" Demi asks.

Selena blinks at her because she's never felt more flushed. Demi explains, "You're shivering," and Selena realizes she's definitely shaking. As much as she wants to stay on this beach for the rest of their lives, the fact that Demi has her trembling convinces Selena they should head inside. They fold up the blanket and walk back in a silence that roars in Selena's ears louder than the tide.

For the first time, she and Demi change into their pajamas on opposite sides of the bathroom door. "Goodnight," Demi mumbles once they're in bed, and she doesn't do anything else.

*

The next day, Selena is burning too many brain cells trying to figure out if this means she's gay or bi or just Demi-sexual to remember her lines. She's not convinced it has to mean any of those things: maybe it's not sexual at all, just one more facet of their friendship.

When the clock strikes ten, there's not much conversation to wind down. After they've chastely changed into their pajamas, Demi turns off the lamp and murmurs goodnight. Selena waits.

Demi doesn't kiss Selena's forehead or cheek. Instead, there's the slightest flick of her tongue against Selena's lips. Selena mirrors her and then they're making out again, only this time Demi's thigh slips between her legs and it's definitely, mortifyingly sexual.

Demi freezes when Selena moans. Carefully, she withdraws, repeats goodnight, and resolutely closes her eyes. Selena can't even feign sleep.

*

The next night, Selena finds the spot below Demi's ear that makes her shudder, and then things are all right again. There's something comforting about being equally out of control.

They're chasing each other up the stairs to the security of Demi's locked door when Selena decides not to go back to L.A.

"I quit."

Demi, who's a step ahead of her, turns around. "Come on, one more fl—" Selena sees the exact moment Demi realizes she's not complaining about the stairs. "Quit what?"

"The business." Selena tries to joke, "You should get out, too. When the Big One hits, California's going straight into the ocean."

Demi stares at her, then shakes her head. She pulls her guitar tool out of her back pocket and crouches down. When she stands up, _DDL + SMG = BFF_ is scratched into the wooden stair. "Nothing's going to change that. I promise."

But after they leave Puerto Rico, everything does change. They have to relearn how to sleep in separate beds and wake up in separate cities. _Camp Rock_ comes out and suddenly Selena isn't the only one who knows just how amazing Demi is. When Demi kicks off the Jonas Brothers' new tour, Selena is there, singing along from the wings. After her set, Demi runs to Selena, and they stand thigh to thigh, chest to chest, cheek to cheek. When Demi releases her, Selena feels like she's been chopped in half.

*

After the tour is over and _Don't Forget_ is out, things calm down. _Wizards_ and _Sonny_ shoot on different lots, but she and Demi share a ride to work most mornings, and no one seems to mind that Demi sleeps over most nights. They're working on Valentine's Day, not that Selena had any idea how to celebrate it, but at least they're working together, shooting the video for "One and the Same." The next day, Selena goes back to Puerto Rico to film the _Wizards_ movie.

Selena loves her TV family, but even the salty air reminds her of Demi. When she can't stand one second more, she escapes up the hotel's back stairs. Their initials are still there. It helps and makes her cry all at once.

A creaking floorboard startles her. She leans over the banister to find Jennifer Stone frozen guiltily on the stairs below. "Um, hi?" Jen offers.

Selena wipes her nose on the back of her hand. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry." Quickly, Jen climbs the remaining stairs. "I thought you were sneaking off for an assignation."

"So you decided to spy on me?"

"Duh. Now, what's got you so sad?" Jen catches sight of the carving and pain flares in her eyes. It's gone when she says, "Oh, Selena."

"No," Selena tries to explain, because she doesn't want Jen to feel like she's come in second place again. If it weren't for Demi, maybe Jen would be her best friend. "No, I." But she can't explain, so she just hugs Jen as hard as she can.

*

After _Wizards_ wraps, Selena has one week in L.A. before she has to film _Ramona and Beezus_. Apparently Demi made friends with Miley Cyrus in her absence, but who is Selena to begrudge Demi her happiness? As always, she and Demi have work to do, but when they're not recording songs or shooting promos, they lie in bed, interspersing _Friends_ reruns with other, less friendly things.

She sees Demi one week out of the eight that follow, but when they're reunited for the premiere of _Princess Protection Program_ , Disney has learned to book a single room.

"I can't believe we got to have prom," Selena is still repeating when Demi presses her against their door. Selena was exploring the hotel rather than working the premiere party when she stumbled across the dance. When no one recognized her, she went back for Demi.

Demi waggles her eyebrows. "You know what else happens on prom night."

Selena giggles, but then it's not so funny because Demi is pushing down the single strap of her dress. While Demi's hands have snuck under Selena's shirt and up her ribs, Selena has never let her take that shirt off—until now. Selena crosses her arms, but below rather than over her bra-covered breasts. She actually hears Demi swallow.

Shyly, Demi presents Selena with her back. "Can you help me with this?"

Selena reaches up to undo the zipper: when she sees her purity ring, she's already lowered it enough for Demi to reach. Demi steps out of the dress and climbs onto their bed, where she lies in her lingerie and an artless expression.

"Don't, don't you want me?" she sings playfully, but Selena can hear the old insecurities.

"Of course I." Selena's furious blush gives testament to just how much she wants Demi. "But I." Her throat's closing again. "I."

"You what?"

Selena holds up her hand. She promised.

Demi's face pinches and she tries to cover herself, but the blanket is tucked in too tightly. "Goddamn it!"

Selena scurries to the bed. "Let me help—"

"No!" Demi finally yanks the blanket free. She wraps it around her body, curling away from Selena. "You don't have to give me an excuse, okay? Just...go away."

"It's not an excuse," Selena protests through numb lips.

"It's bullshit. But, whatever. _Some_ people actually want to be with me."

Selena knows she's talking about Miley's brother. "Why do you encourage him?" she snaps.

Demi glares over her shoulder. "Why do you care?"

"Because I'm your—" There are no words for what they are, not after this. Selena backs toward the door. "I'll just." And she goes.

*

The flirtation that Selena isn't entitled to care about flames out spectacularly, and Selena tries to feel her way back into Demi's life. They become so adroit at talking around prom night that Selena is counting down the days to the precious week after Demi's tour ends but before _Camp Rock 2_ starts, and is correspondingly devastated when Demi's break is canceled. Then a photo leaks of Demi kissing some other guy who's way too old and way too tattooed for her, and Selena shuts herself in her bedroom with Billie Holiday.

When Demi comes back from filming, she doesn't call Selena. She schedules her birthday party for a night she knows Selena is working, then taunts her about it. Finally, she releases a video of her dancing like she never danced with Selena, all of which is fine because Selena doesn't miss her at all.

It's just that, living where she does, people are always saying Selena should go to the beach. She does because hell if she'll let Demi ruin this for her, too. But when she stares at the ocean, all she can think of is that stupid island and the stupid mistake she made there and everywhere after that. Beneath her feet, shells break into sand. Overhead, the sun arcs toward the water. Somewhere in the city, Demi is moving further and further away. In her head, Selena is, too.

She leaves the beach and doesn't come back.


End file.
